SOLVED Frustration with Windows Display Options

[RP McIntosh]

I've posted a question about this previously, but still haven't been able to figure out what is happening. I've worked extensively with the options (or at least, all of them I can find) for adjusting the display in Windows 10. But no matter what I do, the display has a "washed out" look to it. I've found that if I use the Nvidia Control Panel that controls my graphics card, I have extensive control over the appearance of the display, and am able to get it looking the way I want it to. But there is a catch (isn't there always?) Once I get the display adjusted to just the way I like it, it stays put--until I reboot the system. Shortly after the desktop appears durning the boot cycle, the display reverts to its washed out appearance. If I bring up the Nvidia Control Panel, and click on the "Other Applications Control Color Settings" nothing changes. However, if I then again click on the "Use NVIDIA Settings" option, the display retruns to the settings I selected, and the APPLY button appears. And it will stay that way, until I boot the system again, at which point, it brings back the washed out appearance until I go through the process of clicking back to the "Other Applications Control Color" option, then immediately back to the "Use NVIDIA Settings" then click the APPLY button.

Common sense tells me that there is something in the initial settings that are activated during the boot cycle that is overriding the Nvidia Control Panel settings. But I have no idea what it may be. I'm including 4 screen shots to show what is happening. The first one, labeled Preferred01 is a shot of the desktop the way I want it. The second one labeled Reverted01 is what appears shortly after the desktop appears during the boot cycle. The other two, labeled Nvidia01 and Nvidia02 show the settings in the Nvidia Control Panel. Nvidia01 shows what the Control Panel looks like when I initially bring it up. The second one shows what it looks like immediately after I click the "Other Applications Control Color", then click the "Use NVIDIA Settings" but before I click the APPLY button. You can easily see the difference in the desktop background between the Nvidia01 and Nvidia02 screen shots.

If anyone has any idea on what is causing this behavior, or how to control it, I'd be very grateful to find out. It is annoying to have to manually set the desktop appearance every time I boot the system.

 

[davehc]

Hmm. Admittedly I am viewing the post on an ipad. But, I cannot see any difference. Let’s wait for another opinion!

 

[RP McIntosh]

I've posted a question about this previously, but still haven't been able to figure out what is happening. I've worked extensively with the options (or at least, all of them I can find) for adjusting the display in Windows 10. But no matter what I do, the display has a "washed out" look to it. I've found that if I use the Nvidia Control Panel that controls my graphics card, I have extensive control over the appearance of the display, and am able to get it looking the way I want it to. But there is a catch (isn't there always?) Once I get the display adjusted to just the way I like it, it stays put--until I reboot the system. Shortly after the desktop appears durning the boot cycle, the display reverts to its washed out appearance. If I bring up the Nvidia Control Panel, and click on the "Other Applications Control Color Settings" nothing changes. However, if I then again click on the "Use NVIDIA Settings" option, the display retruns to the settings I selected, and the APPLY button appears. And it will stay that way, until I boot the system again, at which point, it brings back the washed out appearance until I go through the process of clicking back to the "Other Applications Control Color" option, then immediately back to the "Use NVIDIA Settings" then click the APPLY button.

Common sense tells me that there is something in the initial settings that are activated during the boot cycle that is overriding the Nvidia Control Panel settings. But I have no idea what it may be. I'm including 4 screen shots to show what is happening. The first one, labeled Preferred01 is a shot of the desktop the way I want it. The second one labeled Reverted01 is what appears shortly after the desktop appears during the boot cycle. The other two, labeled Nvidia01 and Nvidia02 show the settings in the Nvidia Control Panel. Nvidia01 shows what the Control Panel looks like when I initially bring it up. The second one shows what it looks like immediately after I click the "Other Applications Control Color", then click the "Use NVIDIA Settings" but before I click the APPLY button. You can easily see the difference in the desktop background between the Nvidia01 and Nvidia02 screen shots.

If anyone has any idea on what is causing this behavior, or how to control it, I'd be very grateful to find out. It is annoying to have to manually set the desktop appearance every time I boot the system.

Hmm. Admittedly I am viewing the post on an ipad. But, I cannot see any difference. Let’s wait for another opinion!

Dave--

Well, believe it or not, when I view the screen shots now, I can't see any difference either. Could that be caused by the fact that I'm viewing the screen shot with the color settings I have NOW instead of those that were in place when the screen shot was made? That could also account for how it appears to you compared to how it appears to me. But the actual difference is dramatic. In the images that I uploaded, both the Preferred and the Reverted versions look like the Preferred does in the screen shots. In real life, the Reverted image is much lighter--with more brightness and less contrast. That makes it even more puzzling.

 

[RP McIntosh]

Dave--

Well, believe it or not, when I view the screen shots now, I can't see any difference either. Could that be caused by the fact that I'm viewing the screen shot with the color settings I have NOW instead of those that were in place when the screen shot was made? That could also account for how it appears to you compared to how it appears to me. But the actual difference is dramatic. In the images that I uploaded, both the Preferred and the Reverted versions look like the Preferred does in the screen shots. In real life, the Reverted image is much lighter--with more brightness and less contrast. That makes it even more puzzling.

To all. Finally figured this out, so thought I would post the answer here for the information of all. First, when I booted up today, as usual, I got the "old" screen appearance back. Before resetting it, I looked at the two screen shots I posted here earlier. And lo and behold, they BOTH showed the "old" appearance. I then reset using the Nvidia as outlined earlier, then looked at both the screen shots again. Now, they showed the "revised" appearance. That told me that whatever change I was making was affecting not only the desktop, but the appearance of everything else, including the screen shots. Next, I went in to the Nvidia control panel, and experimented a bit with the settings there. What I found was that the item that was being changed between the old and revised settings was the gamma setting. I then did a search on how to change the gamma setting in Windows itself (instead of using the Nvidia control panel). And there is a way to do that using the Display Color Calibration feature. Couldn't find this in Settings, but searching for it brings it up. It lets you adjust gamma, brightness and contrast as well as True Type settings. Using the gamma setting tool there, I could pretty much duplicate what I had done with the Nvidia control panel. So now, presumably (though I haven't rebooted yet), since it is the Windows Display settings I have changed, the changes will stick. Turns out I like the gamma set a good bit lower on the slider than Windows in its infinite wisdom thinks is optimal. Hope this proves useful to others.

 

[davehc]

Tks for the feedback, and for marking "Solved". Good bit of detective work there!